After a rash argument in White's Club, Sir Denzil Caversham is embroiled in a duel, which ends in his accidentally killing his foe, a well-known member of Society, and he is forced into exile for three years in America.His absence leaves his ailing wife impoverished, so their beautiful daughter, Thalia, decides to rescue the family by working at a fashionable milliner's shop serving the tastes of the ladies of London's Beau Monde.Under the assumed name of'Thalia Carver', she catches the eye of the dashing and handsome Earl of Hellingham, who is instantly determined to make her his mistress and offers her endless inducements and she refuses them all.The Earl has no idea who Thalia really is, nor that she is the anonymous author of a provocative book poking fun at the'English Gentleman' that is the talk of the Social World and all the Gentleman's Clubs of St. James's.At first appalled by the Earl's advances, Thalia is soon irresistibly drawn by his magnificent magnetism and his underlying tenderness.But, as love blossoms in her heart, she knows that it can never be.The Earl must never find out the true identity of the milliner's work girl who has stolen his heart.

Barbara Cartland was the world's most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages. As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery. She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation. Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world. She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven. Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1& 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author. Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed. Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone's life.